Embrace A Stream Challenge will help Mill River

Local project could win its share of $50,000 in cash prizes in national contest

Local donors can help direct more money to restoration on the Mill River this week.

The Nutmeg Chapter of Trout Unlimited, a local, volunteer-led nonprofit dedicated to improving and restoring local rivers and streams, has been entered in the Embrace A Stream Challenge, a new online contest sponsored by Orvis and Trout Unlimited. Through Nov. 12, the chapter has a chance to win its share of $50,000 in cash prizes to help fund the Mill River Conifer Revetment Project, an initiative to restore the Mill River in Fairfield County.

In early October, the Nutmeg Chapter received an $670 grant from the Embrace A Stream program to support this project, and now has a chance to win additional funds to complete the work.

To win, the chapter needs the help of its members, volunteers and community residents. Through Nov. 12, anyone who visits www.embraceastream.org and makes a donation of as little as $10 to support the chapter’s work will help it unlock prizes ranging from $250 to $5,000. The chapter is competing in this contest with more than 40 other Trout Unlimited chapters from across the country.

“We’re excited to have the chance to raise even more money to restore and improve the Mill River in the Embrace A Stream Challenge,” said Rich Rosen, Nutmeg Chapter president. “But we need the help of all of our community members to win. If you care about clean water, and share our love for the Mill River, please help our more than 300 local members and volunteers by donating to this important project.”

The Mill River Conifer Revetment Project will focus on a section of stream that runs along Congress Street in Fairfield, where the river is more than 40 feet wide in some places, when it should average 15 feet. We will narrow the stream channel and stabilize the banks using conifer revetments to prevent future erosion and ensure that the stream at the site and downstream can support excellent trout habitat. Mill River is currently home to some of the highest densities of wild and native trout in the state, but we believe that the fishery can support even more trout with habitat improvement.

Embrace A Stream is a matching grant program administered by Trout Unlimited that provides funds to local chapters and councils for coldwater fisheries conservation. Since its inception in 1975, the grant program has funded more than 1,000 individual projects for a total of $4.4 million in direct cash grants. Local chapters and councils contributed an additional $13 million in cash and in-kind services to EAS funded projects, for a total investment of more than $17 million. The Embrace A Stream Challenge is a new national online contest sponsored by Orvis and Trout Unlimited to connect people who care with a chance to support improvements to the rivers and streams in their communities.

“This year, more than 40 local Trout Unlimited chapters from across the country have brought forward plans to take care of the rivers that they love to fish,” said Russ Meyer, chair of the Embrace A Stream grants committee, a group of Trout Unlimited volunteers who review and approve all grant applications. “The Embrace A Stream Challenge gives everyone in your community the chance to join us in supporting this important local project.”

The Nutmeg Chapter of Trout Unlimited serves more than 300 members in Southwest Connecticut, serving Fairfield, Westport, Weston, Easton, Redding, Trumbull, Monroe, Bridgeport, Stratford, Milford and Shelton. Meetings are held the third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. at Port 5, 69 Brewster St. in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, and are open to the general public free of charge. On Tuesday, Nov. 21, Greg Myerson of World Record Striper Co. who caught the world record striped bass in the Long Island Sound, will speak.

Nutmeg Trout Unlimited has received an Embrace A Stream Grant and has a chance to raise even more money toward work on the Mill River Nov. 6-12. — John Kovach photo